IRA/NICHD Workshop Addresses Early Childhood Issues

What research needs to be conducted to discover which issues in early childhood affect the successful acquisition of reading in school? Approximately 40 scholars representing a wide range of backgrounds and ideas addressed this topic at an Early Childhood Literacy Research Workshop convened by the International Reading Association and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) February 15–16, 2005, in Washington, DC.

On the first day, information was presented on several related topics: understanding early literacy through current large-scale studies, the work of the National Early Literacy Panel, the role of environmental and innate factors in the development of early literacy, instructional factors, and curriculum models. Here’s a sampling of presentations from the opening day:

IRA President MaryEllen Vogt and Peggy McArdle of NICHD offered welcoming comments. “If we’re going to have a comprehensive program of teaching children to read, it’s got to begin in the preschool years,” McArdle said. “What is the state of the science on preschool literacy?”

Kyle Snow of NICHD spoke about what large-scale studies can tell us. He described several such studies and briefly reviewed some of the key data from them. He pointed out that federal funds support a range of projects that bear on early literacy. Researchers can build on this.

IRA Vice President Timothy Shanahan discussed the work of the National Early Literacy Panel, whose report is due out later this year. He noted that an initial screening using 351 search terms in 11 categories generated some 6,700 citations. Through several winnowing processes, these were later narrowed down to 234 studies that were actually coded and synthesized. One goal of the project is “increased use of research as the basis for educational decision making and debate,” Shanahan said. “Clearly, the idea here is to pull the best information from these studies to have the clearest idea where we are now.”

Patton Tabors discussed issues involving English-language learners. “This is a critical, growing population of young children,” she said. “It’s a group of children that really needs a tremendous amount of attention from the research community.”

Julie Washington spoke on issues of race and ethnicity. “Are there culturally driven practices that contribute to the failure of African American children in the classroom and culturally driven practices that support them in being successful?” she asked.

Debbie Rowe noted that children’s writing preparation begins before age 3. “What do very young children observe about writing in home, preschool, and child care settings?” she asked. “How do these experiences relate to later school writing experiences?” She added that there is very little detailed research on very early writing.

Former IRA President Lesley Mandel Morrow spoke about curriculum at the preschool level. “The most important element is professional development, and I would like to make a push for parental involvement as well,” she said.

In the afternoon, participants broke into small groups to discuss the key issues and variables that a research agenda should consider in order to have an impact on programs that work with young children. The day’s activities ended with a large-group discussion to bring together the lists of issues and variables.

The second day began with a summary of the previous day’s discussions and a listing of the key ideas identified by the small groups. Then the small groups met again to further refine their lists. A final presentation outlined some of the issues regarding researcher training and research tools, methods, and design that needed to be addressed.

In the end, participants identified a variety of key research issues related to the general areas of theory, tools, context, policy, and addressing the needs of specific groups. Some of the key research issues identified included the following:

· teacher preparation and professional development
· a broad focus on parenting for literacy
· a clearly defined construct of emergent literacy and ways to measure it
· a look at developmental trajectories across different groups of children and spanning the 0–5 age range
· issues relating to accessibility and quality
· assessment instruments and issues

Participants agreed on the value of cross-disciplinary cooperation in addressing the issues raised. Several people also noted the value of using large, existing databases as the basis for further research.

This marked the second workshop that IRA and NICHD have cosponsored. The first one, which focused on comprehension, was held in February 2004. The organizations plan to conduct future cooperative activities. n

IRA/NICHD workshop addresses early childhood issues. (April 2005). Reading Today, 22(5), 1.